Football: League Cup Drama As Chelsea Crash Out To Burnley

LONDON: Chelsea suffered another dose of penalty shoot-out misery as Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side were dumped out of the League Cup by Championship club Burnley on Wednesday.

The Blues lost a shoot-out in the Champions League final against Manchester United last season and their luck clearly hasn’t improved much since as Burnley won 5-4 on penalties to inflict the shock of the season at Stamford Bridge.

Didier Drogba had given Chelsea the lead in the first half but Ade Akinbiyi levelled to send the match into extra-time.

Wade Elliott missed a chance to win the shoot-out for Burnley after Wayne Bridge’s effort was saved by Brian Jensen. But the Burnley keeper pushed away John Obi Mikel’s sudden death kick to send the Clarets into the quarter-finals.

Drogba was back in the starting line-up for the first time since October 1 after a knee injury and the Ivory Coast star didn’t take long to mark his return with a fine finish from Frank Lampard’s pass in the 27th minute.

It was Drogba’s first goal since April but Chelsea couldn’t kill off the Clarets and Akinbiyi equalised in the 69th minute after Carlo Cudicini had blocked a Chris Eagles effort.

Chelsea had to play most of extra time with 10 men after Franco Di Santo was forced off with an injury with the Blues having already used all three substitutes.

Both sides squandered chances to win it in the additional 30 minutes before Burnley finished with 10 men as well when Steven Caldwell was dismissed for a foul on Florent Malouda.

That set the stage for Jensen’s heroics as Chelsea, fresh from recent defeats to Liverpool and Roma, stumbled to a far more embarrassing defeat. – AFP/de